North-Eastern States On Alert, Fani Likely To Hit The Region

NEW DELHI: Fani is likely to hit north-eastern States, warned India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday.

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) met here under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary and took stock of the situation arising out of the cyclonic storm ‘Fani’. This follows a strict direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is personally monitoring the situation.

The cyclonic storm, ‘Fani’, as on Monday morning was located at 880 km southeast of Chennai. It is expected to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm by April 30. The storm will continue to move North West and change its path to North East from May 1.

According to IMD, “landfall over Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh is ruled out. However, the possibility of landfall in Odisha is under continuous watch.”

The Prime Minister himself is closely monitoring the situation and has directed the Cabinet Secretary to convene a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) to take stock of the situation with State Governments and Central Ministries and agencies concerned and ensure that all preparations to deal with any situation are in place.

During the NCMC meeting, officers of all the concerned State Governments confirmed their full preparedness to deal with any situation arising out of the cyclonic storm. Further, the State governments have adequately warned fishermen not to venture out into the sea and highlighted that there is a seasonal ban on fishing in the sea up to June 14 due to breeding season. The State governments were advised to effectively enforce this ban.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has assured the State governments to release in advance the first installment of SDRF, as per their request.

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